Into the pond you go!
by verbal acuity
Summary: St Rudolph crack - Over the hills and through the woods, Mizuki disposes of an ignorant duck. Poor Shinya. And what of Atsushi? - oneshot. I hurt him because I care.


**INTO THE POND YOU GO  
**by Collapse Overture  
**Disclaimer**: I own, apparently, my own rhyme of that river-woods-grandmother's-house thing. But I do not own Prince of Tennis. ):  
**A/N**: My rhyme goes hills-woods-pond. Why, I do not know. I was trying to think of something else PoT to write while I was working on NUMB3RS fanfictions and waiting for my NUMB3RS three-season boxset to get hereee. But I won't get it until next Monday, the 28th. -unhappy.- Here goes randomness!  
**Characters in Use (now dubbed CIU)**: Mizuki Hajime, Yanagisawa Shinya, and Kisarazu Atsushi.

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_Over the hills..._

"Mizuki-san, where are we going, dane?"

The addressed man turned down towards the usual doubles partner and smirked, curling his finger in his own hair without missing a beat. "Nfu ... Well, Ahiru-kun, we're going somewhere special, and I really can't give away the surprise, now, can I?" he asked smoothly, turning back ahead and continuing his walk up the hill. In return, Yanagisawa and the short-haired Kisarazu twin exchanged looks. But before Atsushi could say anything, Mizuki turned right back around and added, "And Atsushi-kun ... don't say a word."

'Sorry, Shinya,' Atsushi mouthed to his partner apologetically. He knew exactly where the three of them were going - and what they were going to be doing, for that matter - but he was under strict Yanagisawa-protecting word to not say a thing.

"But, 'Tsushi, daaane!" the duck-like player interrupted, causing their overly gay manager to turn around for the third time in their trip. He quickly closed his duck-bill, clamping his hands over it to prevent any other words. Sighing through his hands, he looked down at the ground and followed, alongside his partner, St. Rudolph's manager to their definite-but-unknown-to-Shinya destination.

-

_And through the woods..._

This time, it was Atsushi's turn to speak up (he had the only common sense between his partner and himself, after all).

"Hey, Mizuki-san," he started unsurely. "It's getting kind of dark, you know, since we're in the woods and all. Don't you think we could just stay here for the night?" He shot a quick glance to Yanagisawa, silently hoping that Mizuki would go for it. He wanted to put off his partner's close demise as soon as possible; after all, he really cared about the duck.

The manager turned and shot a glare Shinya's direction, seemingly thinking that it was the damned duck that put the not-as-beautiful-as-his-brother Kisarazu twin up to asking for such trivial things. He would have none of it. He needed to get there and fulfill his plan before he ended up pulling out all his hair; he needed to get back to Yuuta-kun, after all.

"Atsushi-kun, I'd thought better of you to listen to such a noisy duck," he stated as-a-matter-of-factly, folding his arms over his chest, one hand reaching up to rest on his chin as he inquired the other two. "Nfu ... But no. We are continuing our journey until we get there and if you say a word to your duck, I'll preserve the both of you for Christmas dinner come December," he paused and cleared his thought. "Well, no. I'd preserve Ahiru-kun over there and - Nfufufu - keep you around and feed him to you, Atsushi-kun, for Christmas dinner." Atsushi visibly flinched, which didn't go unnoticed by Mizuki. "Nfu. Sound good?"

Yanagisawa, having learned by now, kept quiet while his doubles partner silently nodded.

-

_Into the pond, you go!_

The rest of the trip through the woods went by silently - albeit the occasional 'Nfufufu'ing on Mizuki's part ahead of the two other regulars - until they reached their destination, Mizuki had utterly gaily announced.

By the time they were actually through and away from all the trees, it was light out again, though, from how dark the trees made it, they all (besides Mizuki who refused to admit as much; he had pride to withhold) thought it was still dark out.

"Uh, Mizuki-san, what is this, dane?" Yanagisawa, who Mizuki had actually thought for a moment had disappeared from their little three-man party because he was so quiet, had finally spoke softly, though roughly at the same time, his fingers fidgeting with his tennis uniform. "All I see here is a -"

"Pond," Atsushi finished for him, giving a blank 'I kind of want to kill Mizuki right about now' look. He sighed. "Do we really have to do this, Mizuki-san? He's my doubles partner and I need him. Can't he just stay on the team?" Mizuki ignored him completely, he realized as much, and leaned casually against the nearest not-so-mossy tree. "... Fine. I'm sorry, Shinya," he muttered under his breath, making sure that Mizuki didn't hear him; if the gay manager did, he'd make sure that Atsushi wouldn't even be able to visit him. Atsushi had to pretend he was unfazed.

"'Tsushi, dane..." Yanagisawa sighed and turned away from his partner to look over at Mizuki, the manager that he looked up to until this moment. "What exactly are we doing, dane?" he asked dejectedly, scratching the back of his head, which earned a smirk from Mizuki himself.

"Nfufufufu ... Well, Ahiru-kun, where - did you notice - did we go today?"

The duck thought for a moment before snapping up and shouting, "We walked up a hill, dane! And -" he paused in thought for a moment and Mizuki lifted his forefinger as if he was counting. _Over the hills_. "Then we were in the woods, dane!" And Mizuki held up a second finger. _And through the woods_. "And now we're here, dane, at the pond!"

From his tree, Atsushi's eyes closed tight and he flinched, awaiting the inevitable.

"Yes, that's right, Ahiru-kun ... Nfu."

And with that, Mizuki grasped the front of Yanagisawa's shirt and tugged him towards the pond. "Into the pond, you go!" he shouted with a smirk and shoved the duck into the pond with a flick of his wrist. Atsushi winced from the sound of the splash, but his eyes didn't open, even as he felt Mizuki's fingers entwine in his headband. "Come, Atsushi-kun. We must go back to the dorms; my Yuuta-kun awaits me. Nfufufufu..."

Poor Shinya, Atsushi thought sadly as he looked back at his doubles partner - well, _ex_-doubles partner after Mizuki did that - flailing in the pond. One day, hopefully soon - when he's able to get away from one sadistic gay manager - he'll return and save Yanagisawa. But until then, he's stuck being a singles player, he mused forlornly as Mizuki smirked on their way back to school.

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